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Don't adjust your screen—you read that right. In less than a year, a popular butcher shop has grown from one store to 30, and we couldn't be happier. The Vegetarian Butcher in the Netherlands offers long glass display cases stocked with tempting "cuts" of delicious faux meats, and customers can't get enough.

Why is De Vegetarische Slager butchering its animal flesh–hawking competitors? Perhaps because 75 percent of people in the Netherlands either no longer eat meat daily or are full-time vegetarians or vegans. Radio Netherlands Worldwide cites cruelty to animals, the risk of dangerous infections, and the overuse of antibiotics as probable reasons for the national gustatory shift.

Vegetarian Butcher founder Niko Koffeman adds meat's devastating impact on the environment to the list of reasons people are flocking to faux. "Especially," he points out, "since we can create a product that has the exact same look, taste and bite as the similar meat product."

While we anxiously await a Vegetarian Butcher shop stateside, most grocery stores in the U.S. already carry yummy faux meats. PETA has done the tastework for you and ranked our favorites.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

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After winning us over with its tasty veggie burgers and meatless taco salads (yum!), the West Michigan Whitecaps' Fifth Third Ballpark has held a special place in our hearts. Unfortunately, the newest edition to the Whitecaps' 2009 menu has us reaching for the Pepto-Bismol.

Weighing in at a hefty 4 pounds, the Fifth Third Burger contains a whopping 4,800 calories. Between two 8-inch buns lie five 1/3-pound beef patties and enough fixins' to make even the heartiest eaters clutch their chests in horror: a cup of chili, five slices of American cheese, salsa, nacho cheese, Fritos, lettuce, tomato, and sour cream. And what do you get for finishing this artery-clogging sandwich? A T-shirt.

Well, PETA is challenging anyone who chows down on the Fifth Third Burger to take on a side order of all the resources it took to create the massive meal. Producing just one pound of animal flesh takes 16 pounds of grain and 2,468 gallons of water. You're probably busy gagging over the mere thought of this monstrous burger, so I'll do the math for you: on top of the 4-pound sandwich, you'll be required to shovel in 27 pounds of grain and wash it down with 4,000 gallons of water. Think you can handle it?

For those gourmands who are intent on ingesting several days' worth of food in one sitting, we're asking the Whitecaps to offer the Fifth Third Veggie Burger. Vegetarian burgers don't waste all the valuable resources that meat products do, so they're a guilt-free indulgence for baseball fans who care about animals and the planet.

Written by Liz Graffeo

I want to start off today by talking about the veggie burger I created at a barbeque last night. Here's how it worked: 1 Boca burger, 1 Chik'n patty, a ton of Bac'n bits, 2 slices of soy cheese, a healthy dose of vegenaise, guacamole, lettuce, and tomatoes. In just one sitting, I devoured three different fake animals, and it was amazing. Word on the street is that the folks over at PETA's Veg Cooking website are going to be coming out with a food blog in the next couple of months, so I expect that—since it seems fairly clear that I am some kind of culinary genius—they will be wanting me as a consultant. If they ask nicely, I may even share with them my recipe for tater tots and ketchup.

Anyway, as today is day 5 of Be Kind to Animals Week, it seemed like as good a time as any to make the point that the single easiest and most effective way of being kind to animals is only eating fake ones. They've got pretty much every kind of fake animal these days, and I like to cook the little suckers up with garlic and douse them in steak sauce. And for anyone who holds themselves to a higher culinary standard than me (which, honestly, most people do), there are a ton of great vegan recipes on the aforementioned Veg Cooking website. Also, if you haven't come across it already, you should check out the Vegan Lunchbox blog. That lady seriously knows what she's doing.

Yeah, sure, we were pretty happy to get a front page article in The New York Times about the major animal welfare changes Burger King has announced. The AP, USA Today, and BBC stories were pretty great too. But ever since we first heard from Burger King that they were going to make this announcement, everyone at PETA has been holding their breath to see if we would make The Onion. And today, that dream came true. Click the picture below from The Onion's exclusive interview with Customer Support Operator Derrick Braswell for the full story: